RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season Five

RuPaul eyes a contestant in season five of "RuPaul’s Drag Race," premiering January 28. (Source:LOGO TV)

We are off to the races again! Monday night brought the premiere of the 5th season of Logo’s "RuPaul’s Drag Race," and it looks to be equally as reliable in entertainment value as the past seasons. The show’s fans seem to agree if the ratings are any indication: this week’s episode was the highest-rated premiere in Logo history.

While there are still too many girls to learn about individually, and quite frankly a few are too boring to even want to, there were certainly a great deal of stand-out moments. The mini-challenge was an absurd one that involved swimming in water in full drag while RuPaul’s Logo BFF Mike Ruiz took a photo, followed by a trash-to-runway challenge that seemed pretty easy comparatively. A couple of the early frontrunners are associated with Drag Race alumni, a trend that seems to be more frequent as the seasons continue.

Alaska holds the distinction of dating last year’s winner and fan favorite, Sharon Needles. While she holds certain similarities, particularly her love of the absurd and over-the-top, she was also consistent with her looks and has a strong personality to back it up. It can’t hurt that she had "Noodles," as Alaska calls Sharon, to give her pointers.

Season 5’s premiere gave us a good luck at the new crop of girls, properly setting up drama, rivalry, and personal stories.

Another clear star is Detox, a multi-talented queen who can be seen in music parody videos with last season’s bad girl, Willam. Detox seems like a very put together, successful, and smart performer without the vain do-whatever-she-wants attitude that eventually sunk Willam, and is a clear contender for the crown. Whether she will be able to maintain this while showing off why she is America’s Next Drag Superstar is something we will have to wait to see.

The rest of the girls didn’t stand out quite as much as these two, perhaps simply because of who was given the camera time. There is some vague, mostly boring drama between Alyssa Edwards, a talented pageant queen with an impenetrably nasty attitude, and Coco Montrese, a shade throwing pageant sister with polished looks but never-ending resentment towards Alyssa. Roxxxy Andrews is a former big girl with a kind heart and a lot to prove (and the winner of the first episode) while the other standout was Puerto Rican Lineysha Sparx. Let’s hope Lineysha can overcome the taxing language barriers that have sunk past PR representatives.

Season 5’s premiere gave us a good look at the new crop of girls, properly setting up drama, rivalry, and personal stories. This show has yet to give us a bad season, mostly because watching RuPaul just sit in a chair would still be better than most television. Start your engines everyone, and let’s hope the best woman wins.